trolls

trolls should be fey creatures instead of natural creatures.

correlon and gruumsh

as i mentioned in a prior post, i have long envisioned corellon using a bow to pluck out gruumsh's eye, and i was happy to see wotc change the story from a sword to a bow. but now, i am having some trouble with this new rendition of the story. i will explain.

d&d has long associated certain races with the favored weapon of its creator god--for example, dwarves/hammers/moradin and gnolls/flails/yeenoghu.

in 4e, gods do not have official favored weapons, however, i believe that the tradition of certain gods being associated with certain weapons persists. we still have dwarves/hammers/moradin and gnolls/flails/yeenoghu. here is where it gets tricky: in 4e, eladrin are proficient with swords and elves are proficient with bows. if we assume (and i know, we are assuming) that these proficiencies have something to do with the favored weapons of their patron deities, then that might suggest that corellon, in fact, favors the sword (wotc has not yet done a write-up for corellon). now some may say that elves and eladrin were of the same race. but i say that eladrin remained closest to corellon. elves moved to the natural world and adopted the bow over the sword. so i deduce that correlon favors a sword rather than a bow. and if he favors a sword, then most likely, corellon was wielding a sword when he fought gruumsh, and used a sword to pluck out gruumsh's eye.

sadly, i do not like this sword rendition of the story. i believe that gruumsh is the greater melee warrior of the two.

so, what am i to do?

well, i have considered reshuffling the god/primordial rivalries (in a prior post, i mentioned that gruumsh should be a primordial). perhaps melora, who i see as the elves' patron deity, favors the bow among weapons and perhaps she plucked out gruumsh's eye. replacing corellon with melora as the eye-plucker would be killing a sacred cow, but hey, new editions of d&d are precisely when such changes are best considered.

another hiccup is the fact that melora already has a rivalry with baphomet, just as the raven queen has a rivalry with orcus. i want to maintain the rivalry between elves and orcs, two natural races, so the patron deity of elves would be a good choice, but i do not want to clump too many rivalries onto a single god. also, who then would serve as a foil to corellon? perhaps demogorgon. that would be a wonderful myth/story to create. yum.

mual-tar was fought by three gods: pelor, moradin and bahamut. perhaps, in similar fashion, melora assisted corellon in his battle with gruumsh. perhaps, she plucked out gruush's eye with her bow, thus giving birth to the enmity between orcs and elves. baphomet's rivalry with melora, on the other hand, pertains to the power over nature.

improving the warlock class

from a game fluff standpoint, i think it is weird--in fact, inappropriate--that a warlock can select powers from pacts other than his designated pact. why would a warlock who has aligned himself with a fey spirit be able to access powers that are bestowed by an infernal entity?

although it would be a significant shift in the rules regarding warlocks, i think that warlocks should be limited to powers granted by their own pact. i acknowledge that currently, relying only upon the phb, this is impractical. however, wotc could utilize such additional sources as arcane power and dragon magazine to fully flesh out each existing pact to make this change possible.

currently, the strength-based paladin is not a completely independent class (e.g., see level 9 paladin powers), but i anticipate that divine power will correct this shortcoming. in similar fashion, the warlock pacts could, and should, be made entirely independent of each other.

again, i emphasize that a warlock's powers derive from a source. the warlock makes a pact with an entity that is capable of bestowing certain powers upon the warlock. that should be the extent of the warlock's class powers, no cross pollination allowed.

on a separate warlock topic, i think that the star pact was a failed experiment of MAD. the wonderful dragon article on star pact warlocks helped them considerably, but what we now have are essentially two pacts called star pact, one that is charisma-based and one that is constitution-based.

lastly, i still think that mechanically it was a mistake to make fey pact a better fit for tieflings than infernal pact.

Functional Template - Drider

Drider
A drider was a powerful drow priest of Lolth whose devotion was satisfactorily tested by Lolth and who was gifted with a semblance of her god’s spider form. Most, although not all, matron mothers are driders. Drow believe that a drow house that does not have a drider for a matron mother is experiencing the displeasure and punishment of Lolth. Such houses face stigma and some prejudice from the greater drow community. A drow house with two or more driders is regarded as blessed by Lolth. As the favored of Lolth, all driders, whether matron mother or not, enjoy considerable power and authority in drow society. Since all drow priests are female, a male drider is a rare and socially complicated circumstance for drow society. Driders often dispense with weapons, instead relying upon their two blade-like front claws and their bite for melee.

Drider is a template you can apply to any drow priest and, rarely, other drow who have dedicated their lives to the service of Lolth. If you are modifying a nonplayer character, this template works best with the cleric.

Prerequisite: Level 11, Drow Priest or drow worshiper of Lolth
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Drider
Elite Soldier
Large fey humanoid (spider)
XP Elite
Defenses +2 AC; +4 Fortitude, +2 Reflex
Resist 5 + 1/2 level poison
Saving Throws +2
Speed 8, climb 8 (spider climb)
Size Large
Action Point 1
Hit Points +8 per level + Constitution score
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POWERS

M-B Claw (standard; at-will) Poison
Level +4 vs. AC; 1d8 + 7 damage, and the drider makes a secondary attack against the same target. Secondary Attack: Level +2 vs. Fortitude; target takes a –2 penalty to attack rolls (save ends). First Failed Save: The target is also weakened (save ends). Second Failed Save: The target falls unconscious until the end of the encounter.

M Double Attack (standard; at-will) Poison
The drider makes two claw attacks.

M Quick Bite (minor; at-will) Poison
Requires combat advantage; Level +2 vs. Fortitude; 1d4 damage, and ongoing Constitution modifier + 1/2 level poison damage (save ends). If applicable, REPLACES Drow Priest Bite of the Spider.

R Web (standard; recharge 4 5 6 )
Ranged 5; Level +2 vs. Reflex; the target is restrained (until escape). Escaping from the web requires a successful DC Level +12 Acrobatics check or Level +12 Athletics check.

Spider Link (minor; at-will) Healing
The drider can transfer up to its healing surge value of points of damage she has taken to a spider or a drow within 5 squares of her. She cannot transfer more hit points than the creature has remaining. If applicable, REPLACES Drow Priest Spider Link.

monster manual stats

gotten from en world

someone named DerekSTheRed did a very nice job of compiling useful stats from the monster manual:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-4th-edition-rules/229092-lots-statistics-monster-manual.html

driders revisited

here is a post i made on the wizards d&d forums back in 3e:

"driders are now favored by lolth, not unfavored (don't ask. she IS chaotic.). ;-)

at first, the drow have a hard time adjusting to this. they have always held disdain for the driders. now, lolth has deemed that driders are favored because to be more "spider" is to be better. the pre-existing driders have returned to their houses, to be treated--begrudgingly--with honor and respect, even above priestesses. the pre-existing driders continue to bear much resentment towards the drow. they repeatedly exploit their newfound power and authority to exact various incidences of revenge upon their family members and other drow. however, they know that an excess of this behavior will be disfavored by lolth. now, a new drider is created only as a reward by lolth to an exceptional priestess, who, upon becoming a drider, assumes the role of matron mother of her house. not all houses are blessed with a drider matron mother. it is a cause for political strife and manipulation among the houses. now, new driders are almost exclusively female. the rare creation of a new male drider is a source of confusion and consternation amoung the drow society ("what does lolth mean by this? a male favored?"). driders have spider reproductive organs and have spider offspring (note to self - create a large spider that has an intelligence score of 10 and, perhaps, special abilities). any remnant sexual urges that drider may still feel towards drow are satiated only through violence. this is an aspect of lolth's blessing that is cruel both to the drider (sexual frustration and adjusting to having sex with spiders) and to the drider's "sexual" victim (obviously)."

i am happy to see wotc implement this change from disfavored to favored.
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here is how driders have evolved from 3e to 4e:

3e driders disfavored
driders are created by the drow's dark goddess, lolth. when a dark elf or above average abililty reaches 6th level, the goddess may put him or her through a special test. those who fail the test become driders. because they have failed their goddess's test, driders are outcasts from their own communities. drow and driders hate one another passionately.
3.5 monster manual, page 89
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4e driders favored
driders are servants of lolth gifted with a semblance of their god’s grotesque form.
4e monster manual, page 93

in drow society, the strongest and bravest can take the test of lolth. those who succeed become driders, members of a privileged caste. those who fail usually die.
4e monster manual, page 93

driders are common among drow
4e monster manual, page 93
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4e shunned replace driders as lolth's disfavored (see chwidenchas below)
Lolth is a fickle mistress. Drow who serve her but fail in their efforts sometimes suffer terrible consequences. These unfortunates become creatures known in the Underdark as shunned.
demon queen's enclave, page 18

shunned are creatures spawned by the spider queen whenever she is angered by one of her servants. in all cases, they are grotesque fusions of spiders and drow, mockeries of the perfect union the drider embodies. most candidates for this transformation are those drow who seek to gain the goddess’s favor by testing their devotion in the hopes of being raised up to become a drider themselves. most who fail are killed outright, but a few are cursed to walk the Underdark as shunned.
demon queen's enclave, page 18

drow society doesn’t tolerate shunned in their presence and kill them on sight.
demon queen's enclave, page 18

most [shunned] hunt drow and drider alike, longing to vent their frustration and hate on the ones they blame for the state they have been reduced to.
demon queen's enclave, page 18

chwindenchas--one of the shunned--continue to be lolth's disfavored (from 3e to 4e)
chwidenchas are created when drow fail one of of the many tests set by their deity lolth.
3.5 fiend folio, page 34

chwindenchas particularly despise drow, who have cast them out of society, just as the drow have done with driders.
3.5 fiend folio, page 34
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driders as matron mothers
driders are [. . .] subservient to lolth’s priests
4e monster manual, page 93

perhaps, the test of lolth should be limited to lolth's priests. so, instead of being subservient to priests, they would be the priests. more precisely, they would be the elite among the priests. perhaps, either (i) all matron mothers are required to be driders or (ii) most matron mothers are driders and those few drow houses that do not have a drider for a matron mother face a bias (at best) or an actual power disadvantage of some sort (at worst).
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test of lolth involves a ritual
i envision the test of lolth being conducted by the drow clergy, with a ritual that the testee must submit to; a ritual that would allow the presiding head priest to transform the testee into either a drider or a shunned. this method, as opposed to a divine intervention, would be more consistent with the notion that drow society actually has cast out the testee, notwithstanding the fact that lolth's power and will ultimately is the source of the transformation.
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driders as elite monsters
imo, all driders should be elite monsters.
here are a couple of reasons why:
(1) from a metagaming perspective, incorporating their previous drow priestly powers into their new drider forms likely would involve adding a template, such as cleric or demagogue or some such, to the existing drider stat block, which converts a normal monster into an elite monster; and
(2) as is intended with elite monsters, driders could continue to appear in encounters with drow (who are mostly nonelite monsters), while increasing the drider's power, presence and impact on the encounter.
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driders cannot reproduce
lolth chooses every drider, always.

divine homes (not the hgtv kind)

correlon resides in a demesnes in the feywild.

moradin and pelor rule hestavar.

melora resides in the natural world and has achieved compatibility with the primal forces of the natural world.

bahamut resides in celestia. kord calls celestia home, but spends most of his time battling in avernus.

avandra maintains no permanent residence. she delights in travelling throughout the planes. no place can permanently bar her from travelling to it--no plane, no fortress, nothing. whether blatantly or subtly, she has gone and can go anywhere she wishes.